Book Review: "The Lady of the Rivers" by Philippa Gregory

Five out of Five Stars

 As a rule, I love Philippa Gregory's books, and this one didn't disappoint.


Telling the story of Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford, an overlooked woman in medieval history, the book starts with the imprisonment of Joan of Arc. That alone was interesting! The book then covers Jacquetta's first marriage to the Duke of Bedford, who married her not for love but for her gift of second sight. When the Duke of Bedford dies, Jacquetta throws convention and fear of retribution to the wind and marries Richard Woodville for love. She is ordered to pay a huge fine for failing to ask the monarchy for permission to marry (and she certainly, in that age, would not have been allowed to marry someone beneath her rank) and instead becomes a favorite of Henry VI's wife, Margaret of Anjou.


Margaret dominates the book with her stubborn will and Jacquetta dominates with her deep love and devotion to family, friends, and the monarchy. The book ends with the fall of Henry VI.


A great read if you're interested in The War of the Roses. 

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Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off.  She is the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.

"The Queen's Fool" by Philippa Gregory

"The Queen's Fool" by Philippa Gregory

4 out of 5 Stars

Although Philippa Gregory does a fair amount of research, she does take a lot more liberties than some of my other favorite historical fiction novelists. However, I quite enjoyed this book and it kept my attention most of the time.



Hannah Green is hiding as a Catholic (she is a Jew) during the tenuous reign of Queen Mary. Hannah has "the sight" and has been accepted not only at the court of Queen Mary, but at her rival Princess Elizabeth.


I'm certainly not a historian, but it's hard for me to believe fools of any sort, comic fools or seer fools, would have as much access and as much pull as Hannah does. She seems to be able to go anywhere and do anything. Of course, if she didn't, the book would pale.



Another thing I thought was interesting is how the burning of heretics was more or less glossed over -- the famous term "Bloody Mary" was never used. I also thought it interesting that Princess Elizabeth was portrayed as nothing more than another Anne Boleyn (and of course, she IS Anne Boleyn's child!). Some books I've read truly depict Elizabeth as a Virgin Queen and Mary nearly so.


The only time the book dragged a bit for me was when Hannah had to move back to Calais to get married. Fortunately, the story line did pick up and the "old Hannah" became evident once more.


I do enjoy Gregory's books, so pick this up if you're in for a good read. 

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off.  She is the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.

Book Review -- "Now Face to Face" by Karleen Koen

(Warning -- possible spoilers)

"Now Face to Face" is the sequel to Karleen Koen's book "Through a Glass Darkly".  I dearly love historical fiction, and as I devoured "Through a Glass Darkly and gave it a resounding Five Stars, I really looked forward to the sequel.

Eh.  Well.

This book was on its way to being put on my "Not Finished" shelf, but I persevered and the pace finally picked up and the story fell back into the method of her first book.  When I finished the book, I had tears in my eyes, and felt the novel had redeemed itself somewhat.

I'm still only giving this book Three Stars, and here's why:

*  While I enjoy studying history, the first half of the book was way too political for my taste.  I kept losing the story line because just when I'd get interested, bam, politics. Don't get me wrong, a certain amount of politics had to be written into the book or there would have been no plot, but there's a line that got crossed.

* Characters I liked in the first book seemed to change personalities in the sequel, particularly Barbara, the main character. 


* The pace got bogged down, largely due to the huge chunks of politics.


If you're a fan of the Jacobite uprising, you'll love it.  I was fortunate in knowing a fair amount about this time period or I would have been completely lost.  If you're a fan of court intrigue, you'll like the book.  I'm glad I decided to plug along and finish the book, but be prepared -- it's nothing like the first book.